Clear your calendar for March 2, 2012, at 8:00PM and join Nikki for an evening that will leave you gasping for breath between belly laughs. Tickets are available online by clicking here.

She’s only through town once every one or two years, so don’t miss your chance to see her live!

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One of Canada’s favorite comedians, SHAUN MAJUMDER is fresh off shooting ABC’s show Detroit 187 and hurrying home to jump on stage!

Majumder has risen as one of this nation’s brightest stars, with beloved characters like Raj Binder, the uber-sweaty, much cherished in-your-face interviewer on CBC’s This Hour has 22 Minutes. A favorite at Montreal’s Just For Laughs Comedy Festivals, this Gemini Award winning comedian delivers his slice of life commentary in a clever, drenched in wit satirical style. Don’t miss your chance to see Shaun Majumder perform live during his first headlining tour of Canada! Special guest for the tour will be fellow comedian Nigel Lawrence.

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Click here to book tickets and for more information.

Calgary’s Dark and Dirty Comedy Contest 2011 Details

Alright Calgary comedians, here’s the info you’ve been waiting for: The details for *Calgary’s Dark and Dirty Comedy Contest 2011*! As you can probably infer from the title, we will be awarding one comedian in Calgary the title of Calgary’s Darkest and Dirtiest! Not only will they get a trophy for their efforts, but they will also win the grand prize of $222.00! (Why $222.00? Because we couldn’t afford $666.00).

The contest will run through the entire month of April, with 3 preliminary rounds and one final round. Each preliminary round will have 6 comedians and the top 2 from each of those will move on to the finals. In order to participate in this contest you must be a resident of Calgary, not just passing through or in town for the month.

There are a number of problems that plague comedy contests and we believe that the rules set up for this one avoids them as much as possible. Here is the scheduling for each show:

Preliminary Rounds – Shows 1, 2, and 3 – April 3, 10, and 17
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MC (10-15 min)
Professional Opener (10-15 min)
Contestants 1-6 (30-45 min)
Professional Headliner (30 min)

Final Round – Show 4 – April 24
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MC (10-15 min)
Professional Opener (10-15 min)
Contestants 1-6 (60 min)
Headliner (20 min)

As you can see, no contestant is forced to take the bullet. A professional opener and MC will be present to warm up the crowd so that every person in the contest has roughly the same chances of receiving a hot audience.

Each preliminary round contestant will be asked to do 5-7 minutes of material, and then for the final round they will each have to do 7-10 minutes. There is no penalty for going under or over time, but your mic will be cut at the maximum indicated. This is purely to keep the show moving and to prevent the crowd from getting laughed out for later contestants. For the final round you must do at least 7 minutes or you will be disqualified.

Another major problem with most contests is judge bias. It’s nearly impossible to find someone capable of judging comedy that doesn’t know some of the contestants, so the best way we came up with to address this problem is to have a balanced selection of judges from the various agencies in the Calgary comedy scene. Derek Sweet will also be a judge.

Finally, it seems unfair to be rating comedians as you are watching them, simply because you need to see what else is on offer for the entire night before you can really say that one person was funnier, darker, or dirtier than the next. For this reason we will be implementing *relative scoring*. Judges will be encouraged to take notes for themselves on what material the comedians covered, but they will not be given their score sheets until all contestants have performed.

Each comedian will be given a Dark rating, and a Dirty rating, as well as an Overall Performance rating. The sum of the 3 scores will be taken to produce their final score, so you can’t win this contest by just being dark or dirty, you must touch on both.

In order to enter this contest you must send Derek Sweet an email at derek@gthsundays.com on or before March 30. Please include your name, phone number, and which of the 3 preliminary rounds is your preference, or if there are any nights you can’t make, and I will try to accommodate as much as possible. The entire lineup for each night will be posted on the Facebook group on March 31.

We’re very excited about putting on this contest to celebrate our one year anniversary bringing Calgary its only dark and dirty comedy room! It should be a great time so hope to see you all down there!

The whole point of OpenFile is that every story (or a “file” as they call it) remains open and active for comments and will grow as time goes on. Feel free to comment or make additions as you see fit.

The hour-long documentary is called “The Inside Joke” and will be airing on SHAW (Cable 10 in Calgary) a couple of times a week for several weeks starting with its premiere on Saturday, February 19 at 9:00PM. After that, you can check your SHAW listings or their Facebook page to see when it will be re-airing (and it will hopefully find its way to Video On Demand – though the jury is still out on that one).

If you’d like to experience all the fun of a Hollywood movie premiere without the narcissism of actual celebrities, you can join a number of the members of Calgary’s comedy community (including most of the people in the documentary) for a special screening party on Sunday, February 20 at 7:00PM. The host venue will be the Calgary Yuk Yuk’s (in The Elbow River Casino). Doors will open at 5:30PM for drinks and mingling. We want as many people to see it as possible, so it’s a free event.

As a small spoiler we can tell you the names of the comedians involved in the project. You’ll see Jeff Kubik, Mario Lopez, Lori Gibbs, Karen O’Keefe, Donovan Deschner, and Cris Nannarone.

Hopefully you’ll be able to see this documentary in the coming weeks as it is truly a great look at comedy in the city and comedy in general.

If you attend any comedy shows in the near future, this is the one to be at. The headliner is the hilarious (former-Calgarian) Allyson Smith and she’ll be backed up by the best that Calgary has to offer.

A bit thanks to Emily Ask from The Gauntlet for taking on the topic and giving some more exposure to stand-up comedy in Calgary!

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Oscar-winner John Zaritsky is coming to Calgary for a special fundraiser screening of “Leave Them Laughing”, a documentary about Canadian singer, actor, comedian, and mother Carla Zilbersmith who, at the age of 45, was struck by the devastating disease of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Here’s what our colorful Carla had to say about that:

“Having Lou Gehrig’s Disease sucks, because I hate baseball. I’d much rather have been diagnosed with a basketball disease. Maybe Wilt Chamberlain Disease. That’s the one where you have sex 20,000 times and then you die.”

The film is a 90-minute journey into the life and oncoming death of Carla, who is determined to suck every last drop of pleasure from life before she has to go. Often described as “hilariously funny”, it gives people a very empowering, feel good, positive life message at the same time as it raises awareness about the serious need for support for ALS sufferers, families, and research.

100% of the funding for this film to date has been through the personal contributions of the director, producer, and other individuals hoping to help make a difference. All ticket sales go directly to the completion of this film so it can be released worldwide and used as a powerful awareness tool to benefit ALS research and support.

This is one of those films that “sounds like a drag but winds up being poignant and laugh-out-loud funny. An emotional roller coaster of fabulous proportions.” (Susan G. Cole, NOW – Toronto)

“Please help this film become as stellar as it can be. This film deserves it. Those living with ALS, and all touched by its far-reaching fingers, need it.” (Kathryn Dunmore, ALS Society of Ontario)

The film will screen courtesy of the Globe Cinema on Thursday October 21st. Details and tickets at www.leavethemlaughingcalgary.com.

EPCOR CENTRE Presents an Evening With Bob Saget

EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts is pleased to present an unforgettable evening of uninhibited standup comedy with entertainer Bob Saget.

For his for long awaited return to Calgary, Bob Saget will be rocking a full house at EPCOR CENTRE’s Jack Singer Concert Hall on December 18. This rated-R-ish comedy night sheds a crude light on life as a single dad, dating, divorce and questions about Full House that you have been dying to know.

Saget began his career on the comedy circuit before becoming the quintessential ‘nice guy’ of America’s Funniest Home Videos and the wholesome father of Full House. Since then he has taken the centre stage of standup comedy in an edgy set of dirty thoughts in a clean package of laughs.  This is the show that will keep you laughing for days after.

Tickets are available September 14 through EPCOR CENTRE’s box office (403) 294-9494 or online at www.epcorcentre.org. An evening with Bob Saget is recommended for mature audiences.